Cake and Carving

Carving pumpkins is a requirement in October and this year we went out to the Neilsen's to carve, but also to celebrate Camille's birthday. Let's start with the birthday stuff. One of Camille's favorite cakes is Black Forest. I had never made one before but she sent along the recipe and I tried it out. The frosting was so amazing; almost like a chocolate mousse. My chocolate curls didn't turn out exactly right, but the shavings were still tasty.

I didn't have matching candles, so we brought everything we had left over from other birthdays. Camille's kids had great fun putting them in the cake. It was quite the work of art when they were finished and even more spectacular after the candles melted a bit. The monster candles...still looked like monsters I guess.

The cake was pretty darn good. We ate almost all of it. But we left some so Camille would have a slice or two the next day.

Then it was time to carve and paint. Painting can be much easier, especially for kids. But I chose painting too. Bay was good at painting.

Most chose to carve. I don't have to help anyone now. It is nice to see everyone's creations come to life.

Those of us who painted had the problem of our paint drying. We got a hair dryer to speed up the process. Robyn used something a bit more fancy.

The carvers finished first. Look at some of these fun creations.

Others were still going. Robyn was ambitious enough to paint and carve. And I was putting on some finishing touches.

Look at all these fun pumpkins. Ivory's was quite scary and detailed. I loved it.

It was so great to hang out with friends.

I did not realize that we didn't get individual pictures of the pumpkins. I took some pictures a few days later, but nature was already taking its course. So they look a little sad. What would Venom look like if he got old?

You may not be able to tell but Robyn did a cute carving of the Inktober logo. It looked amazing.

June did a pun. Get it?

Pearl did a witch hat all by herself. Nice job.

Some of my kids could not tell what mine was, even after I was done. I thought it was an easily recognizable cactus.

I really like the eyebrows on Tyler's.

And finally Daisy's. I think it was supposed to be a nature scene, but now it looks like an awesome cyclops.

Our pumpkins didn't make it to Halloween, unless you count mine. But we enjoyed them while they lasted.